2 Ypsilanti students charged with stealing guns after GPS on stolen iPad leads to high school

Two students are suspected of breaking into Ypsilanti Township Trustee Scott Martin's garage, pictured above, and stealing loaded guns that they subsequently took to school.

(Tom Perkins | For The Ann Arbor News)

Two Ypsilanti High School students were charged last week with stealing guns and other items from an Ypsilanti Township trustee's home while they were supposed to be in school.

A police report alleges the two students took the guns, a Kindle, an iPad 4, jewelry and rare coins with the intention of selling the items.

Ypsilanti Township officials were able to track the township-issued iPad through its preinstalled GPS unit, which last pinged the device at Ypsilanti High School. Investigators also believe the stolen guns were in the school with the iPad, though Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Scott Menzel noted no guns were seen at school.

Authorities then used school video footage to identify the students based on a witness description.

The students, Michael Apple, 17, and Jhamiel Hill, 17, were later arrested and arraigned in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on May 16 on charges of two counts of second degree home invasion and two counts of larceny of firearms. Hill was also charged with malicious destruction of property.

Michael Apple

Apple and Hill were released from jail May 21 on $500 cash bonds. Both have preliminary exams scheduled for May 27.

Ypsilanti Township Trustee Scott Martin recounted the incident during a discussion of a controversial school truancy ordinance at the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees' regular meeting Tuesday, May 20.

Martin said he was at work Tuesday, May 13 when he received a call from his wife, who was wondering why the family’s safe box was broken in the middle of the garage.

Jhamiel Hill

She was calling from her car in the couple’s driveway and discovered the smashed safe when she opened the garage door after returning home from errands.

Martin instructed her to immediately pull the car out into the street and call 9-1-1.

"I knew right away our house had been broken into and by the time I got there the police were inside," Martin said. "A million things go through your head. It's spooky."

When deputies arrived at the home in the 200 block of Valley Drive, they secured the house but found the side garage door kicked in and the home ransacked.

While taking inventory of their belongings, Martin said he immediately checked on the whereabouts of the loaded gun kept underneath his bed for personal protection.

“At that time you’re a little distraught, you feel violated, you don’t know quite what to do or where to go, but the first place I went was under my bed where I keep a gun” Martin said.

The gun was missing, but it wasn’t until a day later that Martin would learn that the guns and other items appeared to have been taken from his home to Ypsilanti High School.

After discovering the township-issued iPad 4 had disappeared with the thieves, Martin contacted Mike Radzik, the township's director of the office of community standards. The following day, Radzik asked Travis McDugal, the township's IT supervisor, to check signals pinged from the iPad 4’s preinstalled GPS locator.

Officials discovered the last ping came at 3:15 p.m. near the Packard and Hewitt Road intersection, which officials then determined was inside Ypsilanti High School.

"Our IT staff occasionally helps the Sheriff's Office, and it was a lucky break to be able to pinpoint the last-known GPS coordinates of the township's iPad at Ypsi High after the home invasion occurred," Radzik said. "When we realized the iPad and loaded handguns had likely been carried into the school, the first reaction was to make sure the guns weren't still inside the building."

Sheriff's Office investigators contacted the department's deputy liaison at YHS and asked him to review surveillance footage for suspects matching the description of two male suspects a witness spotted in the area near the time of the break-in.

According to the police report, video footage showed two students who matched the description entering the school at 8:40 a.m., around a half hour after the suspected time of the break-in. The footage also revealed Hill and Apple each carrying two dark duffel bags, the report said.

The liaison deputy identified the students, and both were arrested and questioned. Both admitted to the crimes, according to the police report. One suspect told deputies he committed the break-in because he needed money, while the other said it was for a thrill.

Some of the missing items were found at Apple's home while one of the handguns was found stashed underneath Hill's mattress and another in a black case underneath his bed, according to police.

The police report says that Apple admitted that a loaded .38 caliber and .357 handgun were carried into the school and the two students were cutting class. The police report states that Hill claimed the items were stashed in the woods, but the police report also states investigators found Apple's version more credible because the suspects were seen entering the school with the four duffel bags.

Officials say the students signed in late at the school's office and went to class, though the police report makes no mention of where the bags went once the students went inside the school.

"That was my worst nightmare," Martin said. "That was a terrifying realization that those kids were in that school with weapons. There's just no good can come out of it."

Menzel noted that no one ever saw the guns on school property, though the Sheriff's Office believes there is sufficient evidence to conclude they did bring them into the school.

When asked how the students might have entered with bags full of stolen goods, Menzel again stressed no one saw the guns. But he explained that students who arrive late are let in by security, sign in at the office and receive a pass to class. Students must provide the office secretary their names and their photos pop up on the computer screen, Menzel said.

There are no metal detectors at YHS and he said the school doesn't conduct bag searches "without reasonable cause or suspicion." He said there was nothing suspicious about Hill and Apple entering the school late that day.

"These were students who typically haven’t been in trouble," Menzel said, adding that the school will continue with its current security protocol.

"This appears to be an anomaly and this appears to be a really poor decision," Menzel said. "We never want ... to treat other students like they're guilty of something when in fact they're there with intent of getting an education."

The incident comes at a time when relations between the school district and Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees are strained over a truancy ordinance YCS administration requested the township develop to help the district deal with sky-rocketing absences.

Under the proposed ordinance, parents of kids who miss 10 or more school days unexcused and live in Ypsilanti Township may face criminal misdemeanor charges.

But YCS school board officials have told township officials that it's too harsh, community members have complained and Menzel also wants the number of unexcused absences required to trigger charges raised to 18. Menzel has also said he didn't know about the ordinance, which angered some township officials.

During a discussion about the truancy ordinance at the board’s May 20 meeting, Martin began to tremble and his voice rose as he spoke about how two students that should have been in school burglarized his house and could have hurt his wife had she been home.

“I don’t see a school board member, principal and I don’t see the people who are whining about (the ordinance) out there,” Martin told the audience. “Do something for once. Get something done. This is ridiculous. That was my house and they could have hurt my wife ... but I got a message for you people – get something done.”

Martin said he feels blessed that the situation ended in the best possible manner, but he remains shocked that the incident even occurred. He and his wife chose to buy their home partially because of its proximity to Ypsilanti High School, Estabrook Elementary School and West Middle School, which were still open as their kids went through the district.

"It was location, location, location, but I never dreamt some (students) would break into my house," Martin said.